Like the Wind
by LadyStarblade
Summary: "The two creatures in flight swept towards each other...." Reign of Fire fic. Alex's POV during the last battle in London.


Title: Like the Wind (1/1)  
Author: Lady Starblade--ladystarblade@hotmail.com  
Rating: PG-13 (for minor language and violence)  
Category: Action, Angst, Romance  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the mentioned characters, nor the setting of the story. Someone's making a lot of money, but not me, and not with this fic.   
  
Author's Note: I saw "Reign of Fire" (you know, the movie with all the dragons?) today and this idea just up and bit me. So here it be. There are some minor spoilers, but not for anything you can't see coming a mile away. And I think I kept everything in order. If not, blame my fuzzy memory.  
  
Summary: "The two creatures in flight swept towards each other...."  
  
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I huddled down in the shadow of the blasted railcar, my arms wrapped around my rifle. I watched as Van Zan and Quinn darted across the wasteland, dodging obstacles and jumping over wreckage. The bull dragon was nowhere in sight, but I knew he would be back soon. That dragon knew we were here, and I daresay he knew why we were here. To kill him. Granted, this was something that had been planned from the beginning, but I had not expected to be on the ground, with only two men, playing cat and mouse with a hell of a big cat.   
  
I hated this. Staying still when every part of my body screamed at me to run and hide. To do anything but wait for Van's signal. I saw a flicker of a shadow, and the bastard was back. It screamed and went into a dive. I snapped my gaze to Quinn, and I knew the dragon had him in its sights. It was almost the magic hour, when the fading light kept the dragons from focusing. The warning shout stopped in my throat as Quinn ducked and rolled at the exact moment the fire exploded from the beast's mouth. He sprung neatly to his feet and plunged into a niche in the east wall.  
  
Satisfied that he had made it to his objective, I swiveled my head looking for Van. I saw him, high above, pulling himself onto the rickety metal structure that still clung to a silo-like building. With quick, determined movements, he cocked the crossbow back and inserted the magnesium tipped arrow, his eyes never leaving the swooping dragon. Even from here, I could see the half-mad look on his face. I could feel a little wrench in my chest as I stared at him. The man I fell in love with had died a long time ago, slowly killed by too much death, too many dragons, and not enough hope. I had tried, tried with all I had to save him, but I hadn't been exaggerating to Quinn when I told him that Van didn't feel anymore. He couldn't, because that's the only way he can do what he does. It was the final destruction of our unit, completely wiped out by the bull, that destroyed whatever was left inside him.  
  
The dragon came around, and I could see it lining up for a straight shot at Van, who was standing fully exposed on the edge of the twisted catwalk. His loaded crossbow pointed skyward as he judged the thing's speed and distance with certainty born of experience. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see what I knew was coming. I wanted my last sight of him to be of that proud, ready stance. But it was not to be.  
  
"Alex!" My shouted name snapped my eyes open. "Go!" Van wasn't looking at me, but the urgency in his rough voice spurred me on, and I found myself on my feet and running before I even realized I had gotten up. My legs shrieked in protest, but I kept going, because I knew one falter and I was dead.  
  
But I stumbled when I heard Van's voice again. "Run like the wind, baby!" I jerked my head upward, and for a moment I saw the old Van looking back at me, full of determination and cockiness. I saw the man that had convinced me and hundreds of others that the dragons could be killed, that humans were just too damn stubborn to die. I saw the Van I loved. Then in an instant, he brought both his attention and his crossbow to bear on the creature winging towards him. I kept lurching forward, desperately trying to get clear. Yet I couldn't take my eyes away.  
  
Van fired. The arrow hit the bull and exploded. The dragon reared back, its tattered wings waving wildly, screaming in pain and fury. It lunged around, circling back and setting up for another run. Only now, it trailed a thick black trail of smoke behind it. I slammed into a wall almost directly below Van. I fell and rolled onto my back, staring up at the overcast sky for a moment. Looking around wildly, I spotted Quinn leaning out of the niche, his shaggy head snapping back and forth as if he were frantically searching for something. Then I realized what he had lost. His arrow, the only one we had left, lay next to the tire of a burned out truck that stood a good fifty yards away from either of us.  
  
My mind had no time to process what that meant, because the bull's scream thundered around me. My eyes returned to the bull as he roared back. I heard an answering cry, a howl that was also full of hurt and rage. Van had his battle axe clenched in his hands, the weapon he had used to kill his first dragon. And now he planned to use it to kill his last. I knew what he was going to do, and I dug my free hand into the dust and ash beneath it.  
  
He leapt, soaring to meet the dragon, axe pulled back to strike. Time slowed, and he seemed to hang in the air, his scream echoing. The two creatures in flight swept towards each other. And then I closed my eyes.  
  
Like the wind, Van.  
  
END 


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